The original therapeutic diet for paediatric epilepsy provides just enough protein for body growth and repair, and sufficient calories[Note 1] to maintain the correct weight for age and height. The classic therapeutic ketogenic diet was developed for treatment of paediatric epilepsy in the 1920s and was widely used into the next decade, but its popularity waned with the introduction of effective anticonvulsant medications. This classic ketogenic diet contains a 4:1 ratio by weight of fat to combined protein and carbohydrate. This is achieved by excluding high-carbohydrate foods such as starchy fruits and vegetables, bread, pasta, grains and sugar, while increasing the consumption of foods high in fat such as nuts, cream, and butter.[1] Most dietary fat is made of molecules called long-chain triglycerides (LCTs). However, medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs)—made from fatty acids with shorter carbon chains than LCTs—are more ketogenic. A variant of the classic diet known as the MCT ketogenic diet uses a form of coconut oil, which is rich in MCTs, to provide around half the calories. As less overall fat is needed in this variant of the diet, a greater proportion of carbohydrate and protein can be consumed, allowing a greater variety of food choices.[4][5]
Although there are many seed-based crackers available on Amazon, Davidson says these flaxseed crackers are a winning keto pick, because they're relatively low in carbs and provide a decent amount of fiber. They're also high in omega-3, a fatty acid that's beneficial for a healthy brain, skin, and heart. Davidson recommends adding some flavor and creaminess by spreading some Laughing Cow Cheese on top.
These avocado bites (made only from freeze-dried avocado pieces and sea salt) are high in fat and have 7 grams of carbs per serving, making it a perfect portable keto-friendly snack. And if its low-carb appeal isn't enough, avocados are also full of fiber and potassium, she says, two nutrients that can be difficult to get enough of on the keto diet. "I recommend eating an avocado per day to most people on the keto diet, and these dried bites are a good way to help reach that goal," she says. Best part? They won't go brown like the avocado sitting on your kitchen counter.
I am a stage four kidney disease patient. I am also a type one diabetic. I have had diabetes for 37 years. My Internist suggested the Keto diet for me, but there are so many if the foods on the Keto diet that I’m not able to eat because of my kidneys functioning at 22%. How do I reconcile this diet plan to work with my kidney disease? I’m not allowed any dairy, because of my high potassium. Is almond milk ok to drink? I’m not allowed avocados, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, greens, (beet or chard). No bacon, or pork. No melons, bananas, oranges, peaches, pears, some apples, pineapple. I can have berries of all kinds. will this still work for me?

As you transition from three meals to two meals or even to one meal a day, you will need to consume more fat. There are all sorts of great desserts you can create that support your weight-loss program. There are also keto bombs, which are fat-rich cookies that can be consumed at the end of the meal to make it incredibly easy to do intermittent fasting. Here are some examples:

Meal prepping is the secret to eating on a tight budget. It allows you to buy the items that are on sale, in bulk, and prepare them for quick access throughout the week. The meal prep detailed here took us about 2 hours of “active time” and another 3 hours of “passive time”. The passive time was mostly waiting for the chicken to cook/cool. The items we prepped for this meal plan are:
After about two to seven days of following this eating routine, you go into something called ketosis, or the state your body enters when it doesn't have enough carbs for your cells to use for energy. Then it starts making ketones, or organic compounds that your bod then uses in place of those missing carbs—and oh, it also burns fat for more energy, says Beth Warren, R.D., founder of Beth Warren Nutrition and author of Living A Real Life With Real Food.
Probably, and there are a few reasons why, Keatley says. For starters, people usually reduce their daily caloric intake to about 1,500 calories a day because healthy fats and lean proteins make you feel fuller sooner—and for a longer period of time. And then there’s the fact that it takes more energy to process and burn fat and protein than carbs, so you're burning slightly more calories than you did before. Over time, this can lead to weight loss.
Around this time, Bernarr Macfadden, an American exponent of physical culture, popularised the use of fasting to restore health. His disciple, the osteopathic physician Dr. Hugh William Conklin of Battle Creek, Michigan, began to treat his epilepsy patients by recommending fasting. Conklin conjectured that epileptic seizures were caused when a toxin, secreted from the Peyer's patches in the intestines, was discharged into the bloodstream. He recommended a fast lasting 18 to 25 days to allow this toxin to dissipate. Conklin probably treated hundreds of epilepsy patients with his "water diet" and boasted of a 90% cure rate in children, falling to 50% in adults. Later analysis of Conklin's case records showed 20% of his patients achieved freedom from seizures and 50% had some improvement.[10]
We understand that you may not have time to track all your macros, which is why we include the macros with each keto recipe. However, try grabbing a handful of almonds for a keto snack and realizing even a big handful is over a "serving size" and greater than 200 calories. If you are using the keto diet for weight loss, this may not fit into your macros of 1200-1500 calories per day.
If you’ve decided to move forward in trying the keto diet, you will want to stick to the parameters of the eating plan. Roughly 60 to 80 percent of your calories will come from fats. That means you’ll eat meats, fats, and oils, and a very limited amount of nonstarchy vegetables, she says. (This is different from a traditional low-carb diet, as even fewer carbs are allowed on the keto diet.)
Forget the heavy casserole recipes and try this low-carb pot pie tonight! Nothing says comfort food like a chicken pot pie. This low-carb pot pie recipe skips the traditional gluten-filled dough of chicken pot pies and replaces it with cauliflower for a more low-carb option. I simply suggest switching out the cornstarch with arrowroot or tapioca starch.

The classic ketogenic diet is not a balanced diet and only contains tiny portions of fresh fruit and vegetables, fortified cereals and calcium-rich foods. In particular, the B vitamins, calcium and vitamin D must be artificially supplemented. This is achieved by taking two sugar-free supplements designed for the patient's age: a multivitamin with minerals and calcium with vitamin D.[3] A typical day of food for a child on a 4:1 ratio, 1,500 kcal (6,300 kJ) ketogenic diet comprises:[27]

But first a little legal and medical coverage: Although I have a Master's degree in Applied Clinical Nutrition, I am not a physician. I do have extensive experience with eating the ketogenic way, and I cured my health problems with a ketogenic diet. I am not guaranteeing that this diet will work for you or cure your health problems. I am just sharing what I know about ketogenic diets. Click here for the full legal disclaimer.

We’re also going to keep it simple here. Most of the time, it’ll be salad and meat, slathered in high fat dressings and calling it a day. We don’t want to get too rowdy here. You can use leftover meat from previous nights or use easy accessible canned chicken/fish. If you do use canned meats, try to read the labels and get the one that uses the least (or no) additives!
Net carbs is simply total carbs minus fiber and non-digestible sugar alcohols, like erythritol. (This doesn’t apply to high glycemic sugar alcohols, like maltitol.) We don’t have to count fiber and certain sugar alcohols in net carbs, because they either don’t get broken down by our bodies, are not absorbed, or are absorbed but not metabolized. (Read more about sugar alcohols here.)
Ketogenic diets are very, very powerful, metabolically speaking and this is especially important if you take any kind of medication for blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol or triglycerides. The amount taken of these medications will most likely need to be sharply reduced while on a ketogenic diet to avoid negative effects such as excessively low blood sugar or blood pressure.
Use these meal plans to get an idea of what eating a keto diet looks like. Evaluate each day's meals and think about whether or not the foods look palatable and if the eating style seems manageable. If you decide that you think you'd like to try the eating style, connect with a nutrition or medical professional to create a plan that is personalized for you.
Around this time, Bernarr Macfadden, an American exponent of physical culture, popularised the use of fasting to restore health. His disciple, the osteopathic physician Dr. Hugh William Conklin of Battle Creek, Michigan, began to treat his epilepsy patients by recommending fasting. Conklin conjectured that epileptic seizures were caused when a toxin, secreted from the Peyer's patches in the intestines, was discharged into the bloodstream. He recommended a fast lasting 18 to 25 days to allow this toxin to dissipate. Conklin probably treated hundreds of epilepsy patients with his "water diet" and boasted of a 90% cure rate in children, falling to 50% in adults. Later analysis of Conklin's case records showed 20% of his patients achieved freedom from seizures and 50% had some improvement.[10]
Keto breath, on the other hand, is less of a side-effect and more of a major (not harmful) inconvenience (your breath literally smells like nail polish remover). Basically, when your body breaks down all that extra fat on the keto diet, it produces ketones—one of which is the chemical acetone (yes, the same stuff that's in nail polish remover), Keatley previously told WomensHealthMag.com.

The ketogenic diet has been studied in at least 14 rodent animal models of seizures. It is protective in many of these models and has a different protection profile than any known anticonvulsant. Conversely, fenofibrate, not used clinically as an antiepileptic, exhibits experimental anticonvulsant properties in adult rats comparable to the ketogenic diet.[57] This, together with studies showing its efficacy in patients who have failed to achieve seizure control on half a dozen drugs, suggests a unique mechanism of action.[55]

Ketones are triggered by an absence of carbohydrates and sugar. There are specific steps to take to get your body into ketosis, but essentially, when carbohydrates are eliminated, the body will transfer over to using ketones. But I don’t recommend removing carbohydrates completely because I want you to be consuming lots of vegetables. One reason it is so crucial to take in lots of vegetables, and especially lots of vegetables high in potassium, such as kale, beet greens and collard greens, is because it will help you keep all this fat you’re dumping off the body off your liver. You can get a fatty liver when you start dropping lots of weight, as you will once you begin running on ketones instead of glucose. So think VEGETABLE CARBOHYDRATE ONLY.
Another benefit of meal prepping is that it greatly reduces your time spent in the kitchen. That’s right… you no longer have to work as a short order cook for 2 hours a day! This budget meal plan will make use of all the items we prep as well as the rest of the items on the shopping list. There is still some cooking required, but it will only be about 10-15 minutes a day, and is mostly just cooking broccoli/cauliflower. I would encourage you to check out this keto on a budget meal prep video we’ve put together as it was made specifically for this meal plan:
Another benefit of meal prepping is that it greatly reduces your time spent in the kitchen. That’s right… you no longer have to work as a short order cook for 2 hours a day! This budget meal plan will make use of all the items we prep as well as the rest of the items on the shopping list. There is still some cooking required, but it will only be about 10-15 minutes a day, and is mostly just cooking broccoli/cauliflower. I would encourage you to check out this keto on a budget meal prep video we’ve put together as it was made specifically for this meal plan:
Gina, We recommend cooking the chicken thighs first, pulling the chicken meat off, and then combining it with everything else. To cook the creamy sauce on the stovetop, we recommend crisping the bacon in a saucepan and then removing it and adding the water and spices. Once the water is simmering, add the cream cheese a bit at a time (slightly softened would probably work best), whisking until it’s incorporated. Cooked this way, you may need to add a splash more liquid (water or broth, if you prefer) to the sauce, because some of the liquid will evaporate off as the cream cheese melts down. Finally, stir in the cooked shredded chicken and shredded cheddar, and serve! If you try it this way, please let us know how it goes!
These nachos use the trendy Fat Head pizza crust as the “nachos” with a Tex-Mex twist, substituting cilantro, cumin and chili for the rosemary and garlic in the pizza base. After you cut them into tortilla shapes, you’ll load them with a meaty sauce and finish off the nachos with your favorite toppings, like guacamole, jalapeños and salsa. They’re the perfect snack to enjoy with family on movie night.

It usually takes three to four days for your body to go into ketosis because you have to use up your body's stores of glucose, i.e., sugar first, Keatley says. Any major diet change can give you some, uh, issues, and Keatley says he often sees patients who complain of IBS-like symptoms and feeling wiped out at the beginning of the diet. (The tiredness happens because you have less access to carbs, which give you quick energy, he explains.)

Your glycogen stores can still be refilled while on a ketogenic diet. A keto diet is an excellent way to build muscle, but protein intake is crucial here. It’s suggested that if you are looking to gain mass, you should be taking in about 1.0 – 1.2g protein per lean pound of body mass. Putting muscle on may be slower on a ketogenic diet, but that’s because your total body fat is not increasing as much.5Note that in the beginning of a ketogenic diet, both endurance athletes and obese individuals see a physical performance for the first week of transition.